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A word on The Top Ten:
We were surprised to attend Premier in 2005 and see
our wonderful Keno win Best in Breed all three shows
he was entered in.
He immediately was elavated from a "regular guy"
to the UKC Top Ten AKK list for 2006.
It's not that Keno never won before, he did. But this
time, he beat a large number of other AKK, and Top
Ten Points are awarded based on the number of dogs
defeated to win Best Of Breed.
It doesn't take a rocket scientist to figure out
that not only does the AKK owner need to be showing
dogs regularly to maintain their Top Ten status,
but they need to be showing in shows that have other
AKK there to beat! At this time, the Midwest has
a
limited number of UKC Shows and most times we show up
only to find we are the only AKK there. So, while one
of our dogs will get a "Best of Breed", it might be
by winning over 1-2 of our own AliAK AKK!
I suppose I could spend tons of money to cart my entire kennel to every show to
"pump up" my Top Ten numbers, But I would
never consider doing that to my dogs, or my wallet... PuhLEESE!!!!!!!
there are other things I can
spend
money on to improve the lives of my dogs and puppies
and That is where I prefer to spend it.
Being in the Top Ten is nice, but, unfortunately, it does NOT always accurately
measure the "BEST OF THE BEST" in my opinion.
Maybe if the Top Ten measured the number of times a
dog placed as Best of Breed based on the number
of shows he/she was entered in, it might be a more
Accurate assessment of that dog's true conformation
status.
I feel this needs to be disclosed, since most folks
do not understand the meaning of a "Top
TEn" Dog.
Right now, the only areas of the U.S. where AKK show
up in large unrelated numbers (that I am aware of) is California
and in some states on the East Coast, or at a
breed specialty. SOmeone who might have a winning
dog and cannot attend these shows will never be
a Top Ten contender. Is that fair? Not in my book.
I recenty saw an ad boasting that there are so many
Top Ten dogs in UKC from CAlifornia! I guess that
is not as much of a surprise considering the above
facts.
JMO~ Karen
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